Thursday 23 September 2010

Paperwork

It's not easy running two businesses and a household.  When I wrote out my profile on the sidebar of this blog, it was prior to establishing the pie shop, but I'm truly - truly - living it out now.  We're always looking for ways to work smarter, not harder.  We even own a book with the same title! Everything, simply EVERYTHING can be improved upon, but this takes time.  For workable systems to be put into place it takes time, effort and a lot of mistakes have to be made in the process. 

Take the paperwork, for instance. 

In our home office, we have three paper trays, one for engineering, one for the cafe and one for the household accounts.  Many times, the paperwork overlaps.  The telephone account overlaps, because we have one for all three entities.  Same with the electricity and gas accounts.  Some expenses are shared by both businesses - like the petrol bills.  Some expenses are shared by the cafe and ourselves - like various food items. 

A and B, B and C, C and A. 

(Doe, ray me, tea with bread, bread and jam...tra la la...)

Every purchase, invoice, cheque payment, direct deposit etc has to be recorded in an electronic acccounting system.  Food and hospitality produces an enormous amount of paperwork.

Bank statements are the biggest headache.  We have several.  We collect them, you see....

3 x business statements, 1 x GST statement, 1 x private statement, 1 x mortgage statement, 1 x investment statement, 2 x superannuation statements (there's more, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about them...).

Reconciling them for quarterly tax reporting is always nightmar-ish.  Imagine having several shop dockets with various tax codes for various items and having to separate them to record them accurately....

I remember watching documentaries on "Starting a New Life", whereby families would change their lifestyles completely.  A few of them decided on hospitality; b & b, small hotels, restaurants, cafes.  All of them declared that the hardest part of their new life was staying on top of the paperwork. 

Hmmm.....

I get it.  I really do get it.

3 comments:

English Rider said...

That's the "Facts of Life" speech that no-one ever tells you about. I have a refrigerator magnet that says "The only thing more overrated than natural childbirth is the joy of owning one's own business"
All I can say is that you are not alone:)

Millie said...

Right with you here! The Man-of-the-House works a 6 day week in his business.....that leaves a few precious hours on Sunday to do invoices, written quotes, bill paying & bank reconciliations, plan for the following week, act for the Govt. as an unpaid tax collector re BAS/GST paperwork, renovate a whole house & maybe, just maybe, have a couple of moments shuteye & rest on the sofa before it starts all over again early Monday morning. Why do we do it?
Millie ^_^

Joyful said...

I get it too! Even though I don't have a business I definitely have a lot of paperwork to deal with and even that is a headache and a never ending chore.

CATERPILLARS & KEEPING IT REAL

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